Multiple Supreme Court Decisions; Covid Complications Update; Are Prisoners Getting their Mail?
by Derek Gilna
Following the opinion in Borden the past week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released two decisions this morning. Terry v. US, No. 20– 5904 (S. Ct. June 14, 2021), serves to limit the offenders who can secure resentencing based on crack penalties being lowered by the Fair Sentencing Act and then made retroactive by the FIRST STEP Act. In the words of Justice Thomas, "The First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. 115–391, 132 Stat. 5194, makes those changes retroactive and gives certain crack offenders an opportunity to receive a reduced sentence. The question here is whether crack offenders who did not trigger a mandatory minimum (MM) qualify. They do not." However, it is those MM individuals who most need the relief, and their pathway to a sentence reduction remains open.
The second SCOTUS opinion released today was Greer v. US, No. 19–8709 (S. Ct. June 14, 2021), holding that "in felon-in-possession cases, a Rehaif error is not a basis for plain-error relief unless the defendant first makes a sufficient argument or representation on appeal that he would have presented evidence at trial that he did not in fact know he was a felon." Once again, it is always a better practice to make that objection at the district court level.
Borden v.
US, No. 19–5410 (
It is
indisputable that medical care in the federal prison system is third-rate.
Illness is still the most common cause of death, but how common
is illness in prison?
Even though most prison deaths each year are attributed to
illness, and are therefore “natural,” being sick or old in prison is not quite
what it is on the outside. Incarceration can add 10 or 15 years to
someone’s physiology, and take two years off of their life expectancy per year
served, alarming statistics when considered alongside longer sentences
and high costs of healthcare for older people.
This was the situation even prior to COVID, which claimed the lives of over two hundred federal prisoners, dozens of staff, and sickened thousands of others. It is this latter group who are now as most serious risk of succumbing to other illnesses. Farther complicating this equation is the number of individuals who are suffering reactions, in some instances delayed, to their second dose of vaccine. (I have previously written of my skepticism that those pitifully few vaccines delivered to federal prisoners were even properly handled.)
"A higher-than-usual number of cases of a type of heart inflammation has been reported following Covid-19 vaccination, especially among young men following their second dose of an mRNA vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Overall, 226 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis after vaccination in people younger than age 30 have been confirmed, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC's Immunization Safety Office, said during a presentation to a Food and Drug Administration advisory group. Further investigation is needed, however, to confirm whether the vaccination was the cause of the heart problem. Normally, fewer than 100 cases would be expected for this age group. Teenagers and people in their early 20s accounted for more than half of the myocarditis cases reported to the CDC's safety monitoring systems following Covid-19 vaccination, despite representing a fraction of people who have received the shots. 'We clearly have an imbalance there,' Shimabukuro said." www.nbcnews.com. CDC investigates rare heart problem in a few young vaccine recipients, May 24, 2021. (Remember these are ONLY the ones who were hospitalized.)
Myocarditis is condition that involves inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include fever and fatigue, as well as shortness of breath and a very specific type of chest pain. Patients tend to say their chest hurts more when they lean forward. The pain tends to abate when they lean back. www.mayoclinic.org.
The CDC has
also reported on the increasing instances of myocarditis in other individuals. ,
Dr. Cody Meissner, chief of infectious diseases at the
Another
challenge for prisoners attempting to win compassionate release is the
"interesting" disconnect between what a prisoner tells the prison
medical worker and what makes it into the records. I see this quite often, from
almost every institution. You should know that there are severe federal penalties
for such activity. 14
Of course, the problem is that prison medical staff rarely refer individuals, even with pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or TB, for outside testing, and most often ignore those "recovered" individuals still suffering from untreated COVID side effects.
Another recurring problem is staff tampering with both incoming and incoming mail. In institutions where there is "photocopy rule" in effect, delays can almost a month. Outgoing legal mail is often delayed, and "surprise, surprise" will lie to you. (Document everything). You should know that most judges are well aware that DOJ abuses the administrative remedy process, but you still have to exhaust before you file in court.
Do not be afraid and let not your heart be troubled.
federallc_esp@yahoo.com (Spanish newsletters only); "Derek Gilna's Federal Criminal Justice Musings and Reflections."
